While the Pre­mier League in­sists clubs must fully own their play­ers, most Euro­pean leagues al­low in­vestors to hold a stake in play­ers.

Za­havi, 70, who has al­ways had an ex­pert eye for young tal­ent, headed a con­sor­tium which bought 50 per cent of Markovic from Par­ti­zan Bel­grade several years ago for £5.5 mil­lion, ac­cord­ing to re­ports in the Ser­bian me­dia.

Markovic moved from Par­ti­zan to Ben­fica for £7 mil­lion last sum­mer, with Za­havi’s con­sor­tium earn­ing half the fee and re­tain­ing its 50 per cent stake, which was now sold in the Liver­pool deal bring­ing the con­sor­tium’s re­turns to £13.5 mil­lion for an in­vest­ment of £5.5 mil­lion two years ago.

Re­ports from Is­rael sug­gest Za­havi also headed a con­sor­tium that earned £10 mil­lion last year in its third party stake in Colombian World Cup hero James Ro­driguez and Por­tu­gal’s Joao Moutinho who both moved from Porto to Monaco in a com­bined deal worth £60 mil­lion.